Revenge has been an issue in all societies from ancient times to the present day. In western culture, the revenge plot has been one of the linchpins of narrative structure, it is central to much Greek tragedy and was immensely popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean theatres. In this volume Stevie Simkin has collected essays on five plays which are representative of this genre: The Spanish Tragedy, The Revenger's Tragedy, The Changeling, The White Devil and 'Tis Pity She's A Whore. These plays are a rich source of ideas about Renaissance society and politics; recurrent issues include sexuality, the complex relations of gender and power, and the relationship between the individual and the state.

The collection as a whole demonstrates a variety of recent critical approaches to the genre, including feminist, psychoanalytic, new historicist and cultural materialist viewpoints, inspiring students to revisit these plays and to engage directly with the politics of the past and present, and the ways in which they interrelate.